Blast furnace tuyere openings

ABSTRACT

A novel construction for the tuyere openings into a blast furnace including four quadrant ceramic cast parts and four carbon block cast parts to replace the conventional more complicated brickwork. The precast parts with a minimum of fitting may be used for all blast furnace sizes commonly used today. The precast parts eliminate the extensive hand fitting of the brickwork required in conventional construction and, as a result, significantly lower the cost in labor and time for tuyere construction and replacement.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Edwin J. Szatkowsiti [56] References Cited 586 while SL, Lincoln Park, Mich. 48146 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5? 3,061,300 10/1962 Schultz 11 110/1825 [22] 311969 3 396 961 8/1968 F 266/42 [45! Patented June 29,1971 arrmgton Primary ExaminerEdward G. Favors Attorney-Farley, Forster and Farley ABSTRACT: A novel constructionlfor the tuyere openings [54] OPENINGS into a blast furnace including four quadrant ceramic cast parts and four carbon block cast parts to replace the conventional [52] US. Cl IOU/182.5, more complicated brickwork. The precast parts with a 122/6.6, 266/41 minimum of fitting may be used for all blast furnace sizes com- [51] Int.Cl CZlb 7/16, monly used today. The precast parts eliminate the extensive F23l 5/00 hand fitting of the brickwork required in conventional con- [50] Field of Search l 10/ 182.5 struction and, as a result, significantly lower the cost in labor and time for tuyere construction and replacement.

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SHEET 2 OF 2 ATTORNEYS BLAST FURNACE TIJYEIRIE OPENINGS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Encircling the wall of the blast furnace near the base are tuyere openings utilized for supplying hot air in the iron making process. Of necessity, the inside ofa blast furnace must be lined with refractory material; refractory brick in this case. The wall ofa blast furnace in this portion is cylindrical and the tuyere openings through the wall are frustoconically shaped with a hollow frustoconical copper liner utilized as a tuyere cooler. Thus, the geometry of the tuyere opening into the cylindrical wall results in a complicated geometrical shape for the refractory brickwork. In conventional construction a ceramic brick encircling arch is provided about the copper tuyere cooler and a carbon brick arc surrounds at least the upper half of the ceramic arch. The arch may be two or more layers thick and must fit the steel shell of the blast furnace tightly to prevent the leakage of hot air between the refractory brick and the steel shell of the blast furnace. This conventional construction requires that the brickwork be hand fitted at the site of the blast furnace resulting in a large requirement of time and skilled craftsmen.

In a typical blast furnace there are from 12 to 24 tuyere openings depending on the size. The special arch ceramic and carbon brick surround each tuyere opening require skilled help and precision work for a total of 200 to 300 bricks per opening. Normally, blast furnaces must be relined every I8 months to 2 years at which time all tuyere openings are rebricked. To rebrick these openings under conventional methods takes approximately 35 to 50 men working for 35 hours.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention divides the area surrounding the tuyere opening into four sectors of 90 each. The conventional tuyere frustoconical copper cooler is utilized. Each 90 sector contains two cast blocks. Immediately abutting the copper tuyere cooler is a one-quarter section of ceramic liner; the ceramic being a ceramic material similar to the ceramic brick in the conventional arch. Abutting the quarter section ceramic liner is a single cast carbon block. The cast carbon block adjoins the conventional brickwork of the furnace lining in a manner to be described below. Thus, the invention provides for the substitution of four ceramic liner castings and four carbon block castings to replace the complicated arch construction conventional in the art. Normally, the only on site cutting and fitting necessary will be to provide a gastight seal where the carbon blocks and ceramic liners abut the steel furnace wall since the radius of the abutting surfaces will depend upon the blast furnace diameter. The division of the tuyere into four sectors provides for the fewest number of castings that will be ofa small enough size to be passed through the openings of the blast furnace prior to installation. The major object of the invention is to provide for a simple construction thus lowering the expense for skilled worker installation by lowering the amount of necessary on site fitting, reducing the number of pieces handled per tuyere openings from 200 to 300 conventional brick to eight precast pieces and reducing the time required by one-half to two-thirds. Additional considerations are the improvements of higher strength and gastight sealing by the provision of fewer joints than with the conventional arch construction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side elevation ofa prior art tuyere opening;

FIG. 2 is a similar view of the tuyere opening incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded isometric view of the carbon block castings;

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded isometric view of the ceramic liner castings; and

FIG. 5 is a side cutaway of the tuyere opening incorporating the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. II the conventional carbon brickwork 10 of the interior of a blast furnace is shown. A tuyere opening 12 surrounded by a frustoconically shaped copper tuyere cooler 14 is located in the brickwork Ill). Surrounding the tuyere cooler 14 is a ceramicbrick arch l6 and partially surrounding the ceramic brick arch 16 about the upper halfis a second arch 18 of carbon brick. The geometric axis of the tuyere opening I2 extends along a radius of the cylindrical shell of the blast furnace. Thus, the carbon brickwork 10 extends around the cylindrical shell of the blast furnace and the tuyere opening 12 effectively is an opening through a cylindrical wall. Conventionally the brickwork l6 and I8 about the tuyere cooler 14 may be two or more layers thick from the inside of the blast furnace shown to the cylindrical steel wall of the furnace. Because of the complicated geometrical configuration, it is obvious that bricks such as those numbered 20, 22 and 24 as well as others with at least one face abutting the ceramic 16 or carbon 18 arch bricks must be hand fitted on site. With the requirement of gastight construction including a gastight seal by the brickwork abutting the steel cylindrical shell of the furnace and also the frustoconical shape of the tuyere cooler 14 it is quite evident that extensive hand fitting is necessary.

In FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 the simplicity of the invention is quite evident. The conventional carbon brickwork II) of the blast furnace is shown. Surrounding the tuyere opening 12 is the conventional frustoconical copper tuyere cooler 14. Surrounding and abutting the tuyere cooler 14 are four ceramic segments 26, 28, 30 and 32 which are identical in configuration and contoured to exactly fit the outer surface of the tuyere cooler 14. These ceramic liners 26, 28, 30 and 32 extend from the inside of the blast furnace shown radially to the blast furnace steel cylindrical wall and may be cast exactly alike for all tuyere coolers 14 of the same size regardless of blast furnace diameter. As shown in FIG. 4, they are identical frustoconical sectors. The four carbon blocks 34, 36, 38 and 40 are cast to exactly fit the ceramic liners 26, 28, 30 and 32 and also extend from the inside of the blast furnace to the surrounding steel wall. Thus the inside frustoconical surfaces 42 of the carbon blocks 34, 36, 38 and 40 are exactly alike as shown in FIG. 3. The surfaces 42 exactly match the outside surfaces 44 of the ceramic liner sectors 26, 28, 30 and 32 as shown in FIG. 4. Returning to FIG. 2 since the wall of the blast furnace is cylindrical, the tops 46 and bottoms 48 of the blocks should be parallel whereas the left sides 50 and right sides 52 should diverge along radii. To eliminate on site cutting and shaping two different precast carbon block shapes are provided. Thus, block 34 may be turned upsidedown and is identical with block 38, i.e., side 50 of block 34 will become side 52 of block 38. Similarly blocks 36 and block 40 are identical and may be interchanged. No cutting of the conventional brickwork 10 is required where it adjoins the carbon block sidewalls 50 and 52 or the tops 46 and bottoms 48. In these areas conventional brick with tapered side and parallel top and bottom surfaces are employed, usually with two sizes having two different degrees of taper corresponding to maximum and minimum diameter furnaces with an appropriate ratio mixture thereof to accommodate intermediate furnace diameters.

Hand fitting on site is necessary only for the end surfaces 54 on the carbon blocks 34, 36, 38 and 40 as well as the ceramic liner end surfaces 56 to provide a close gas seal against the steel blast furnace wall and yet provide that the standard configurations for the carbon blocks and ceramic liners may be used for blast furnaces of various diameters.

While the tuyere opening of the present invention might conceivably be divided into two or three sectors rather than four, four are preferred to facilitate passage through furnace openings during the installation process.

Iclaim:

l. A tuyere construction comprising a tuyere cooler having an outer surface, a precast ceramic liner means having a surface abutting said tuyere cooler outer surface, and a precast carbon block means having a surface abutting a second surface of said precast ceramic liner means wherein said respective abutting surfaces match in the as-cast condition.

2. The tuyere construction of claim 1 wherein said tuyere cooler is of a frustoconical shape and said precast ceramic liner means circumferentially abuts said tuyere cooler.

3. The tuyere construction of claim 2 wherein said carbon block means circumferentially abut said ceramic liner means.

4. The tuyere construction of claim 1 wherein said ceramic liner means comprises a maximum of four ceramic blocks concentrically surrounding said tuyere cooler.

5. The tuyere construction of claim 1 wherein said carbon block means comprises a maximum of four carbon blocks concentrically surrounding said ceramic liner means.

6. The tuyere construction of claim 4 wherein said ceramic blocks each extend substantially the axial length of said tuyere.

7. The tuyere construction of claim 5 wherein said carbon blocks each extend substantially the axial length of said tuyere.

8. The tuyere construction of claim 4 wherein each ceramic block is a sector of a frustoconical tube.

9. The tuyere construction of claim 5 wherein each carbon block has at least two parallel planar faces, two divergent planar faces, and a surface comprising a sector of a frustoconical surface of revolution.

10. A tuyere construction comprising,

a frustoconical tubular tuyere cooler,

a plurality of ceramic blocks abutting said tuyere cooler circumferentially,

a plurality of carbon blocks concentrically arranged about said tuyere cooler and abutting said ceramic blocks circumferentially,

said ceramic blocks and said carbon blades each extending substantially the axial length of said tuyere cooler,

and said abutting blocks having abutting surfaces matching in the as-cast condition.

11. A tuyere construction for incorporation in the cylindrical brick wall of a blast furnace comprising an annular tuyere cooler and precast refractory means having an interior surface matching the exterior surface of said cooler, said precast refractory means having a rectilinear exterior surface matching and facilitating incorporation in a rectilinear opening in said cylindrical brick wall.

12. A tuyere construction for incorporation in the cylindrical brick wall of a blast furnace comprising an annular tuyere cooler and a plurality of precast refractory segments having an interior surface matching the exterior surface of said cooler, said precast refractory segments having a rectilinear exterior surface matching and facilitating incorporation in a rectilinear opening in said cylindrical brick wall. 

1. A tuyere construction comprising a tuyere cooler having an outer surface, a precast ceramic liner means having a surface abutting said tuyere cooler outer surface, and a precast carbon block means having a surface abutting a second surface of said precast ceramic liner means wherein said respective abutting surfaces match in the as-cast condition.
 2. The tuyere construction of claim 1 wherein said tuyere cooler is of a frustoconical shape and said precast ceramic liner means circumferentially abuts said tuyere cooler.
 3. The tuyere construction of claim 2 wherein said carbon block means circumferentially abut said ceramic liner means.
 4. The tuyere construction of claim 1 wherein said ceramic liner means comprises a maximum of four ceramic blocks concentrically surrounding said tuyere cooler.
 5. The tuyere construction of claim 1 wherein said carbon block means comprises a maximum of four carbon blocks concentrically surrounding said ceramic liner means.
 6. The tuyere construction of claim 4 wherein said ceramic blocks each extend substantially the axial length of said tuyere.
 7. The tuyere construction of claim 5 wherein said carbon blocks each extend substantially the axial length of said tuyere.
 8. The tuyere construction of claim 4 wherein each ceramic block is a sector of a frustoconical tube.
 9. The tuyere construction of claim 5 wherein each carbon block has at least two parallel planar faces, two divergent planar faces, and a surface comprising a sector of a frustoconical surface of revolution.
 10. A tuyere construction comprising, a frustoconical tubular tuyere cooler, a plurality of ceramic blocks abutting said tuyere cooler circumferentially, a plurality of carbon blocks concentrically arranged about said tuyere cooler and abutting said ceramic blocks circumferentially, said ceramic blocks and said carbon blades each extending substantially the axial length of said tuyere cooler, and said abutting blocks having abutting surfaces matching in the as-cast condition.
 11. A tuyere construction for incorporation in the cylindrical brick wall of a blast furnace comprising an annular tuyere cooler and precast refractory means having an interior surface matching the exterior surface of said cooler, said precast refractory means having a rectilinear exterior surface matching and facilitating incorporation in a rectilinear opening in said cylindrical brick wall.
 12. A tuyere construction for incorporation in the cylindrical brick wall of a blast furnace comprising an annular tuyere cooler and a plurality of precast refractory segments having an interior surface matching the exterior surface of said cooler, said precast refractory segments having a rectilinear exterior surface matching and facilitating incorporation in a rectilinear opening in said cylindrical brick wall. 